Israel The Place
Israel is intense. Few locations offer as much per square kilometre to sustain the spirit, feed the intellect and stimulate the senses. It is a place where three continents - Africa, Asia and Europe - meet, and the landscape and the people are a fusion of these three continents, a sometimes infuriating mixture of conflict and harmony. After all, this is the Promised Land to which, it is said, Moses led the Children of Israel. It is where Abraham forged his covenant with God, Christ preached his sermons, and Mohammed ascended to heaven on a horse.
You don't have to be a believer to savour all this. The miracles may be a matter of personal faith, but what can't be historically disputed is that this is the land of the Bible, the cradle of monotheism, a geography familiar from childhood religious instruction. The names resonate in our minds and stimulate our curiosity: Jerusalem, the Galilee, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Yafo, Jericho and the River Jordan.
At the site of the Temple you can pray at the one remaining wall the Romans left intact. You can walk along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. You can visit the El-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount where the Prophet Mohammed came to pray during his lifetime. Around the River Jordan you can drink in the atmosphere of a place where so much history has been made in the past two millennia, most recently the emergence of modern Israel, "the Jewish State", as a complex dynamic entity.
The empty stretches and open blue skies of the Arava and Negev deserts aside, this is one of the world's most densely packed pieces of real estate. Israel's population is approaching 6 million, while 2 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. For many visitors the enduring attraction of Israel is its people - the inheritors of the rich tapestry of invading cultures, which have woven their history into the region.
Contrary to perceived stereotypes, most Israelis are neither right-wing religious zealots nor left-wing Peace Now activists. Most are middle of the road, looking for peace with security. Most Palestinians, too, realise that violence is counter-productive. They want a state of their own, however small, and a decent standard of living.